Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

During the planning for my California trip I found out about a new coaster, Pony Express-The Ride, that would be opening at Knott's Berry Farm during my visit. The official opening to the general public was Memorial Day Weekend. Anything new always gets my attention.

It turned out there was an Ebay Charity Auction for seats on the first official ride during today's (Thursday, May 22) press event. I placed one bid and really never expected to win. After a few days, I received an email that congratulated me for being the top winner the auction and of course, asking me for payment. Well, up until winning the first seat on the first run of The Pony Express - The Ride, I wasn't 100% sure I was going spend the day at Knott's.

I was also still debating whether I need a car rental or not. The Disneyland Resort is only a 3 minute walk from my hotel. For the first 4 days of my California visit, I am staying at The Anabella Hotel then moving over to the Grand Californian.

I spoke to the concierge at Anabella Hotel only to be given some incorrect information about the cost of transportation to Knott's Berry Farm. The hotel representative told me it would cost at least $40 each way for taxi. That sounded odd since it was $40 for a one-way taxi ride from the airport and I thought Knott's Berry Farm was much closer. Hmmm. He then recommended a car service that the hotel regularly uses and the cost would be a flat rate of $35 one-way. Ok, that sounds like a plan.

Today would be another early morning for me as I headed to Knott's Berry Farm Theme Park in Buena Park, California.

I was out the door by 6:15 am and decided to try a family restaurant and ice cream parlor called Tiffy's for breakfast. Tiffy's is located at corner of Disneyland Drive and Katella Blvd. It's easy walk from any of the Disney Resorts as well as several of the off-site hotels/motels including mine. This family run business was established in the early 1970's. My breakfast was great and reasonably priced but the restaurant interior could use a good bit of TCL.

The towncar arrived as scheduled at 7 am and service was wonderful. My driver, Tarun, was very forth coming with local information. Tarun told me he had been driving visitors around the area for over 17 years. Upon arriving at Knott's, Tarun gave me his card so I could call him later in day to schedule a return trip. The business card must have been his personal card because it did not match the name of the company the hotel person had mentioned. The name on the card was Tarun's Travel Service.

Knott's Berry Farm has a rich history. In the 1920's, the Knott's Family (Walter and Cordelia) settled in Buena Park and began farming. The "berry" that the park name refers to is boysenberry. Walter Knott and Anaheim Parks Superintendent Rudolph Boysen created the new strain of berry that combined the loganberry, red raspberry and blackberry types of berries together. Boysenberries taste like at tart raspberry to me.

As a means of staving off Depression hardships, Cordelia began selling jams and jellies made from Walter's berries. These were soon followed by home-baked pies, hot biscuits and sandwiches. Then, one night in June 1934, Cordelia served eight fried chicken dinners on her wedding china - for the all-inclusive price of 65 cents each - and the world's largest chicken dinner restaurant was born. Today, the Chicken Dinner Restaurant seats more than 900 guests at a time, serves more than 1. 5 million guests each year, and is the largest full-service restaurant that serves chicken as its main course. It should be noted at that in 1997, the Knotts Family sold the "farm" to Cedar Fair, L.P.

Between the boysenberries and a few million chicken dinners the rest is history.

I arrived at the Knott's Berry main gate by 8 am and had a chance to meet with my front row riding partner, Don Dudley. I later found out that Don was the winning bidder on several separate auctions for seats on the first ride. He donated them to the The Learning Center, the local beneficiary of the Ebay Charity Auctions so students from the special needs center could be included in the event. What a Nice Guy!! We had a brief opportunity to take photos as we entered the park.

At the time I won the auction for the front seat on the new coaster there really wasn't much information available. After visiting their website, I noticed that they have many large or mega coasters. Knott's Berry Farm is what I would call a coaster park although it has many other attractions and shows. If you plan on visiting the park, I suggest you give yourself a full day to explore and experience everything Knott's Berry Farm has to offer.

We made our way through Ghost Town, the original themed area of the park. Walter Knott developed Ghost Town in the 1940's. This eventually became the first of Knott's Berry Farm's six themed areas. The Ghost town was created so guests of the family's famous Chicken Dinner Restaurant would have something to do to past the time. It wasn't unusual for people to wait several hours enjoy a Fried Chicken Dinner.

I had a nice chat with this jailbird later in the day. He can really hold up his end of a conversion.

Our small group made its way to back of Ghost Town where the coaster is located. A small reception area was set up with coffee, juice, pastries and of course Knott's Berry Farm Boysenberry Jam.

The Pony Express - The Ride has a unique seating set-up. You straddle a horse and your feet rest on the platform below the horse. Riders are held in place by a padded safety that sits on the small of your back. This feature of straddle-style seating gives you a freestyle ride feel. Once on the horse, the ride vehicles are launched on to the track. This was about all I knew of the new coaster.

I was very worried about the coaster being too big, high or just plain scary to ride. Well, the joke was on me. The Pony Express is one of the smallest, lowest and least scary coaster I have ever seen excluding Goofy's Barn Stormer in Magic Kingdom in Orlando.

Here's some stats on Pony Express - The Ride: Track Length 1300 Feet, Highest Point 43 Feet, Speed 38 MPH and ride time a whopping 32 Seconds. Total cost was $9 million. What?

As we waited on the horses for the first, a dedication ceremony took place below us. Many local postal workers were invited to ride The Pony Express. Charlie Brown and Snoopy were also on hand.

While being interview by the Orange County Register Newspaper, I named my horse Big Brown and a short video clip of it can be seen on their website.

In all fairness to this little coaster, it was a lot ton of fun to ride because of the way you sit on top of the horse. I rode The Pony Express at least 5 times before the park officially opened at 10:00 am. This coaster will attract the 'tweens' who will use The Pony Express as a stepping stone to the bigger, mega coasters in the future.

I had the pleasure of meeting the General Manager of Knott's Berry Farm after our first ride ended. This photo was taken outside of the barn where we viewed our ride photos. All the riders from today's event were given free photos. I won't be sharing mine. LOL

We also received Pony Express T-shirts and some other goodies including a certificate for a complimentary lunch at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant.

Linda Mac, Gail Anderson (local Channel 5 news anchor) and Don Dudley. Gail was a hoot as you can see she dressed up for this old west event.

Charlie Brown had to hold Snoopy as he spotted a group of postal workers.

Hello from Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

After the press event, I spent a nice day at Knott's Berry Farm. I was surprised just how large the park is and how much there is do. Last time I visited this park and Disneyland was in the early 1970's so I was hoping to find some rides and attractions that would bring back those early childhood memories on this trip.

Today's trip report has turned out to be much longer that I expected. More to follow.

In the first part of my Knott's Berry Farm blog, I told you about the grand opening of a new ride, Pony Express.

This is a continuation of my day at Knott's Berry Farm!

At the start of the day, I had only planned to spend the morning at Knott's Berry Farm, have my complimentary lunch at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant and head back to Disneyland.

Once the media event for Pony Express - The Ride was over and I started to wander around the park, I realized how big this place is. Don and Jason, my riding buddies, were going to use their free meal vouchers for breakfast so we said our good-byes. They did give a good piece of advice before heading out. As we were standing near the front gates, Don and Jason both noticed how surprised/overwhelmed I was by large number of school groups piling into the park. Their advice was wait till 1:30 or 2 pm and most of the groups will be going home and the attraction lines will become much shorter. Jason and Don were 100% correct.

This is the Knott's Berry Farm I have those early memories of! Covered wagons, log flume rides, and a mostly western themed park. The park has grown and changed so much that I only a few foggy memories of being here in the early 70's.

Camp Snoopy - is home to Snoopy and his Peanuts pals. It is an interactive experience where parents can join their children in sharing the fun. Inspired by the majesty and beauty of California's High Sierra this six-acre Kid's Mecca boasts 30 "attractions" for the young -- and the young at heart! This is probably the prettiest place in the park because of all the mature trees and landscaping.

Most of the school groups were heading in opposite direction of Camp Snoopy so that where I decided to start.

Here's a little tip about this themed children's section of the park. I stopped to take of pictures of the entrance and was really not paying attention to my surroundings. All of a sudden, the Silver Bullet coaster vehicle went flying over my head. I almost hit the deck because it seemed so close to me. LOL. The Silver Bullet is an inverted coaster where rider's feet dangle below them and in this case, it felt like they were going to hit me in the head as they went by.

Fiesta Village - The is second oldest section of Knott's Berry Farm. It opened in the 1960s and is a tribute to California's early Spanish heritage. I didn't take many pictures of the area but there are several coasters here including Jaguar and Montezooma's Revenge. These coasters were not part of the original Fiesta Village.

Boardwalk - celebrates the vigor and vitality of Southern California's fabled beach culture. The original theme for this area was the roaring 20's. The most insane coaster is here at Boardwalk, Xcelerator with top speeds of 84 MPH.

The Coaster has the 50's Drive-In feel to it.

The Sky Cabin, Boomerang coaster and Supreme Scream.

Perilous Plunge photo taken from the ground level just before it opened. Warning: you will get soaked to the skin on this water ride.

I took a ride on the Sky Cabin to get aerial photos. What was I thinking? The ride looks likes it's very, very old and I hate heights. The windows were so dirty it was impossible to take nice pictures. I did get a laugh while on this ride. This attraction which goes up in the air approximately 30 stories, has a circular bench seat that has riders sitting with their backs toward the lift pole so you face out.

As the Cabin goes up the cable, it car moves and shakes a little and to be honest the floor doesn't feel very thick. I was trying to take pictures while not moving out of the safety of my seat. There's one photo that accidently shows my fist clenched and turning red while trying to hang on to the window railing. Then I noticed a sign that said "No Running". I was frozen in my seat, who could think of running. Oh my gosh.

Here's a different view of Perious Plunge. This one is from the top of the Sky Cabin.

Xcelerator from the ground. Notice how small the palm trees look. You wouldn't get me on the coaster on a bet. Well, maybe a really, really big bet.

Here's an eye level view of the Xcelerator from the Sky Cabin ride.

Here's a reason to go back for another visit. Who doesn't love an ice skating show?

More photos of Knott's Berry Farm and lunch at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant to come.....

Hello and welcome back to my California Adventure Photo Gallery. I will pick up with my afternoon at Knott's Berry Farm.

If you would like to read Part 1 or Part 2 just click on links below.

Knott's Berry Farm, Day 2 - The Pony Express Rides Again!

Knott's Berry Farm, Day 2 - Wandering The Farm!

The Timber Mountain Log Ride and The Calico Mine Ride are only two attractions that existed when I lasted visited the park as child in the 70's. I was not able to get on the log ride because of the long lines. But I did take a spin on the Calico Mine Ride. It is a slow moving and slow loading train ride through the mine. I enjoyed because this attraction because of the length of time it has been around and the thought that I may have sat in the same car some 30 plus years ago. The attraction has some very dark sections and if sitting close to stranges is not your thing, maybe this one is not for you.

The Timber Mountain Log Ride. This was considered a thrill ride in it's day!

Calico Mine Ride

I decided it was time for a park break and headed to the famous Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant to use the voucher that was part of my winning eBay bid for The Pony Express - The Ride. I did get a little side tracked on my way to lunch. I came across the Calico Saloon and a show was about start so I made a little detour. Hey, that's what travel adventures are all about! The show was very entertaining and well worth the brief stop.

Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant is located outside of the park itself in Knott's MarketPlace.